“Schools often serve as places where social and gender stereotypes are reinforced. In this theatrical space, students were able to challenge these unjust norms and change them through ‘performing’ new roles.” -Jennifer Holmes, Ph.D.
We can challenge attitudes and beliefs that disenfranchise girls and women before they become socialized in the classroom.
The great educator and philosopher, Paulo Freire, wrote:
“Every educational system has the effect of transforming people who pass through it…”
If so, programs that function as agents of change within educational systems can transform societies. Programs that empower school-aged girls and teach young boys to see them as equals, will create lasting change within patriarchal communities.
If schools often serve as places where gender roles and stereotypes are reinforced, where misconceptions of gender become socialized and therefore more acceptable, the classroom must become the front line in the fight against the silencing of girls and women.
In the classroom, misogyny can be challenged before it is allowed to take root. Here is where a new generation of boys can be taught to see through a different lens, one that does not filter out empathy or their ability to see the humanity of women. If we are to end sexual discrimination and violence against women, we must begin in the halls and classrooms of our schools.
This is why our programs are so powerful. Our stage transforms the culture as well as the student. It would not be fair to inspire and empower girls, if we did not also work to challenge the attitudes and beliefs that disenfranchise them.
Our Educational Philosophy
While education can create opportunity, not all education empowers students. Global Empowerment Theatre (GET) believes that an effective learning process must be collaborative and co-creational. We embrace student-center learning as an empowering alternative to traditional instruction methods. A student-centered approach builds confidence, develops critical socialization skills and fosters a personal investment in learning.
A student-centered approach
Teachers around the world care deeply about their students. Again and again, we encounter teachers who already know there is something missing from their teaching and are already looking for a more student-centered approach.
We show teachers who desperately want to better serve their students ways they can do exactly that. Without fail, these passionate teachers are thrilled when they see how easy it is to adapt our student-centered dramatic activities that engage and empower their students.
What is student-centered learning?
Student-centered learning is an approach to education that focuses on the interests of the students. It is quite different from traditional teaching methods that emphasize lecture and memorization and place much of the focus in the classroom on the teacher. The student-centered approach has many advantages:
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- It is active rather than passive learning.
- It encourages collaboration – student/student and teacher/student.
- It encourages students to reflect on what they are learning and how they are learning.
- It motivates students by providing them with a measure of control over the learning process.
- It develops an increased sense of responsibility and accountability among the students.
- It develops critical problem-solving skills. Our approach is highly experiential and offers students the chance to “create” the problem as well as work toward a solution.
- It fosters a learning environment rooted in empathy.
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